FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JEWISH JOURNAL - PAGE 5

A Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Jerusalem Post will speak here this month about contemporary issues of Jewish life. Correspondent Wolf Blitzer, a former editor of the Near East Report who freelances for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, will take part in a lecture series Feb. 24 at Temple Beth Orr. In Broward County, Blitzer regularly contributes to the Jewish Journal. A frequent commentator on national television news programs, he is expected to attract a crowd of at least 200. The lecture is co-sponsored by the North Broward Midrasha of the Central Agency for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Greater Fort Lauderdale, Southeast Region United Synagogue, Jewish Community Center, Omega Condominium and several area temples.

Want to find a synagogue on Sanibel? Maybe some challah in Coral Springs? Or a menorah in Melbourne? All that and more are just a few clicks away on FloridaJewish.com. Like a Yiddish yellow pages, this well-made site puts nearly every Judaic source in the state at your fingertips. FloridaJewish.com lets you search by state map, hyperlink or pull-down menu. Choose a county, then click the left-hand list for "community organizations," "education," "singles," "cultural arts" or a dozen other categories.

As regular readers of the Jewish Journal may recall, the paper was fortunate to obtain two personal telephone interviews with then presidential candidate Barack Obama - once in May when he was campaigning in South Florida in the primaries - and again Oct. 21, two weeks before the Democratic candidate made history by becoming the first African-American president of the United States. Both interviews ran in the Jewish Journal; however, what didn't make it into the story was the behind-the-scenes excitement, and overall newsroom commotion generated by the anticipated telephone call from Barack Obama.

Two South Florida clergy, including a former leader of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, have been named by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Florida Commission on Ethics. The clergy are the Rev. Mack King Carter, senior pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, Fort Lauderdale; and Rabbi Bruce Warshal, publisher of the Deerfield Beach-based Jewish Journal. Both will serve two-year terms, ending June 30, 2001. In the late 1970s, Warshal served as executive director of the new Boca Raton branch of the Jewish Federation of the Palm Beaches, then guided it to become an independent federation in 1979.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) recently led a bi-partisan Congressional delegation to Israel, Egypt and Turkey. Last week the Jewish Journal interviewed the congresswoman from Weston about the trip. Jewish Journal : "Why did you lead this trip to the Middle East?" Wasserman Schultz : "As a member of Congress and someone who supports the peace process, to see first hand and be able to talk to the leadership of countries. We went to get a sense of the progress of the peace process without the filter that thousands of miles gives you and that the media gives you. And as a member that also serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, I really wanted to be able to be there and spend some time interacting with the nation's leadership so that I can have a better sense of how our dollars are being spent."